Never Let You Go
by rebecca-in-blue
Summary: "Dad, this is a brilliant beyond brilliant idea." My take on part of the movie we didn't get to see: Nick and Hallie's wild race to make it to London before Elizabeth and Annie.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

Five minutes after her mother and sister pull out of the driveway, Hallie is lying on her bed, hugging Cuppy tightly, not bothering to wipe away the tears slipping down her cheeks. Chessy comes in and sits on the edge of her bed and asks gently, "Honey, do you want to talk?" But Hallie just shakes her head.

She knows that once, not long ago, talking to Chessy about her problems would have been good enough for her. After all, for most of her life, Chessy was the closest thing she had to a mother. But now, everything is different. Now Hallie knows that she has a real mother – her very own warm, wonderful, caring mother. After years of dreaming, wondering, and imagining what her mother would be like, she actually met her face-to-face. Spoken to her. Thrown her arms around her like she would never let go. How can she possibly go back to life without her?

The life she led for so long seems empty to her now. She hasn't been living_ with_ Dad and Chessy and Sammy anymore. She's been living _without_ Mom and Annie and Grandpa and Martin.

It's enough to make her wish she had never gone to camp, never found Annie, never even gone to London and met her mother. Because if those things had never happened, she wouldn't be hurting so much now.

Hallie sniffles and lets out a hiccuping sob. A few more tears slide down and drop onto her pillowcase._ It's all my fault,_ she thinks bitterly, _because it was all my idea. _She remembers that night in camp when she sat straight up in bed, giddy and flushed with excitement at the thought of switching places with Annie. _My brilliant beyond brilliant idea_.

-x-

Ten minutes after his ex-wife and daughter pull out of the driveway, Nick is rummaging around in his wine cellar. He has no idea what he's doing or why he's doing it as he yanks bottles off shelves, reads their labels in the dim light, and shoves them back in a different order. He just knows that he has to stay busy, that he'll do anything to avoid thinking about what just happened. After years of missing Lizzie, years of not knowing Annie, he came _that close_ to getting them back – only to lose them. Again.

Nick's so preoccupied that he doesn't notice Hallie coming down the stairs. She's looking for him – _He's the one person in the world who must feel as bummed-out as I do right now, _she thinks – and she knew that he would be down here, but she's surprised by the loud noises of clinking glass. She's _never _heard her dad handle the wine bottles roughly. He's usually so gentle with them. As Hallie crosses the floor, Nick doesn't even notice her until she's standing right next to him.

"Hey, Hal," he says softly, turning to look at her. At the sight of her tear-stained face, he feels a rush of guilt – _This is all my fault,_ he thinks bitterly – and a desperate urge to cheer her up. So he tousles her red hair and says, "You know, kiddo, when your eyes and nose get red, makes it seem like you're red all over."

Nick chuckles without smiling and watches Hallie hopefully for her reaction. But even for her dad's sake, Hallie can't pretend to be cheered up. Her expression remains mournful, and looking at her, the thought suddenly slams into Nick like a wall: _My jokes aren't good enough for her anymore_, he realizes. _Life with me will never be good enough for her again. She needs her mother. And her sister. And her grandfather._

And just as suddenly, the idea appears in his mind, already perfectly planned, fully thought-out. Electrified, Nick grabs Hallie by the shoulders, which startles her, but he's so flushed with excitement that he doesn't notice.

"Hal!" he cries, and she stares at him in confusion, blinking her teary eyes. "What the heck are_ doing_, Hal? Look at us! We're just standing here feeling sorry for ourselves, and we're letting – them – get – away!"

"You mean..."

"Yes, exactly!" Nick cries, interrupting her. He lets go of her shoulders and begins to quickly pace the floor of the wine cellar, thinking out loud. "This is exactly what she did eleven years ago." Nick feels guilty again as he realizes what he's just said. It sounds like an accusation, so he quickly goes on, "It was all my fault. I let her go, don't you see? That's what she said." He briefly stops pacing to point at Hallie, standing against one wall of the wine cellar. "Right _there_! Lizzie was standing right there, and she said, 'Nick, you didn't come after me.' Okay... Okay, so I didn't go after her the first time. Nothing to do about that. I didn't know she wanted me to, but now... now I do. Don't you see, Hal?"

"So..." Hallie answers slowly, not daring to believe what he's saying, because it sounds too good to be true. "So, you're going after her?"

"Yes. Yes, I'm going after her." Hallie starts to let out a squeal of excitement, but then Nick cries, "No!" and her heart drops into her shoes. "No, wait, correction. No, I'm not going after her. _We're_ going after _them_. We're not letting them get away! Come on, Hal, get packed!"

Hallie's spirits rise again, but so many up-and-down emotions have almost left her speechless. "Packed? To go to the airport?" she gasps breathlessly.

"No, no, not the airport!" Nick waves his hand impatiently. He turns and flies up the stairs, two steps at a time. "We're going to London! You go get packed. Your Aunt Kate has a friend who works at the airport. I'll give her a call right now and book us a flight."

"Dad?" Hallie calls, rushing after him. Nick pauses briefly to look back at her, and they smile at each other as she says, "Dad, this is a brilliant beyond brilliant idea."

-x-

Fifteen minutes after Ms. James and Annie pull out of the driveway, Chessy is watching in wonder as Nick and Hallie tear through the house in a flurry of packing and preparation. Hallie is running up and down the stairs, throwing passports and pairs of socks into the duffel bag she took to camp. Nick, meanwhile, is talking a mile a minute on both his cell phone and the house line, asking about flight departures and time differences and the pound-to-dollar exchange rate. Their excitement has spread to Sammy, who runs back and forth between them, barking and wagging his tail.

Chessy tries to make herself heard over the madness. "Look, I'm just not sure this is a good idea," she says for the second time.

Hallie looks up from where she's just shoved several pairs of underwear, a baseball cap, and a shampoo bottle into her duffel. She's so frenzied with joy that she's hardly aware of what she's packing anymore. "Chessy," she says reproachfully, "I can't believe you don't want us to go. Whose side are you on?"

Chessy sighs. "This isn't allowed the plane, honey," she says as she takes the shampoo bottle out of Hallie's duffel. "And this isn't about sides, okay? It's not that I don't want you to go. It's just that it was your mom's decision to go back to London, and as a woman, I don't think..."

But before Chessy can go on, she's interrupted by Nick, who's hurriedly writing something down on a notepad but pauses to look straight at her. He's hung up the house phone and switched his cell to his other ear. "Chessy," he says, in the most serious voice Hallie's ever heard, "do not try to stop us. Hal and I are going to do this. We are going after Lizzie and Annie. We're not letting them go. Not again."

Listening to him, Hallie brings her hands up to chest, because her heart is beating so hard she thinks it might burst right out of her. As devastated as she felt a few minutes ago, that's how breathlessly excited she feels now.

"And if you let us go," Nick adds slyly, "we'll bring you back Martin."

Chessy's mood changes immediately. She turns on the spot and runs full-speed for the kitchen. "I'm going to make you some lunches to eat on the plane!" she calls over her shoulder. "Airline food is terrible, you know!"

-x-

Ninety minutes after Elizabeth and Annie pull out of the driveway, Nick and Hallie are in the air on a Concord plane bound for London. Hallie has the window seat, and she looks out at the sunlit clouds but doesn't see them. She's too busy imagining the looks on her mom and Annie's faces when they see them in London.

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_Stay tuned for Chapter 2!_


	2. Chapter 2

_I meant to update this sooner, but real-life has been hectic lately!_

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**Chapter 2**

Even Hallie's first trip to London – when she was about to meet her mother for the first time, pretending to be Annie – wasn't this nerve-wracking. Her dad says the Concord is twice as fast as other lines, but the flight still seems painfully long to Hallie. There's plenty of time to wonder what might go wrong with her dad's plan. _Suppose it doesn't work? Suppose Mom and Dad still don't end up together? Suppose... _Her stomach clenches in knots that have nothing to do with the flight turbulence or the disgusting airline food.

But at least this time, she isn't flying alone. Hallie and her dad don't talk much, with both of them so preoccupied, but whenever the _suppose_'s start to overwhelm her, she squeezes his hand and feels better.

Between her excitement, her worries, and the cramped seating in coach, Hallie hadn't expected to sleep on the plane, but she manages to catch a little nap when her dad reminds that she doesn't want to have bags under her eyes when she saw her mom and Annie. She's still a bit groggy when she wakes up for the landing, and the train ride from Heathrow to King's Cross goes by in a blur.

Nick stops at King's Cross long enough to buy an umbrella for the rain and scones and juice for both of them. Hallie isn't hungry, but she only picked at Chessy's sandwiches on the plane, and Nick insists that she eat something. So they gulp down nervous bites on a bench near a window, watching the commuters hurry by in their long, dark coats as a steady drizzle falls from the washed-out gray sky.

"You know," says Nick, turning his scone over in his hands, "we really should be eating English muffins. Of course, they just call them muffins here."

Hallie laughs. "They call them breakfast muffins, Dad. I had some while I was here pretending to be Annie." She takes another bite of her scone; it's warm and buttery, and she realizes just how hungry she really is. She's glad her dad made her eat something. She still doesn't know quite what to expect of their reunion with Mom and Annie, but it wouldn't be good if she fainted with hunger the middle of it. "Thanks for letting me come with you, Dad," she adds.

Nick flashes her his trademark dimpled grin. "Well, of course I let you come, Hal. You're the only one of us who knows how to get to your mom's house from here!"

Hallie smiles. She relaxes at the thought of seeing Grandpa again. Before Mom and Annie arrive, they might even have time to – She stops the thought. Something seems off in their plan. Grandpa...

"Oh, my gosh!" she cries, leaping off the bench. "Dad, we forgot to call Grandpa! He doesn't even know we're coming! What if he's not home, and we can't get in?" Suddenly, she's worried all over again.

Nick gets up too, grabs Hallie's hand, and they start for the exit. "It's okay, Hal," he says, as they make their way through the crowds. "Look how far we've come already. Don't worry." But his brow furrows, and Hallie notices him tapping his fingers nervously on his thigh during the taxi ride to her mom's house.

Their fears seem confirmed when they arrive at the James residence and get no answer to their frantic knocking. Hallie wants to kick herself for not calling Grandpa. They had called Cheesy from the airport before they left California and told her to call Martin – he'd given Chessy his cell number – and tell him to do anything that he could to slow down Elizabeth and Annie. Hallie knows her dad had wanted to be waiting inside their house when they got home. It won't make nearly as much of an impression if Mom and Annie find them huddled on the doorstep in the rain, their clothes wet from the rain and wrinkled from the long flight.

Hallie kneels down and peers through the mail slot in the door. The front hallway and staircase look exactly as she remembers – peach-colored walls and thick, cream-colored carpet – but there's no sign of her grandfather anywhere.

"Oh, wait, I just remembered something!" she cries, jumping to her feet. She spins around to survey the small yard. "Annie told me there was a spare key hidden... Oh man, where did she say it was again?"

Nick and Hallie are on their hands and knees in the rain, lifting up the bricks that border the walkway in search of the spare key, when the front door swings open. Hallie lifts her head and sees her grandfather standing there. He looks confused, and Hallie wonders if their knocking woke him up – _What time is it here again? _– or if he's just surprised to see the two of them crawling around his front yard when they're supposed to be on the other side of the world.

"What..." he starts to ask, but that's as far as he gets before Nick and Hallie are both throwing themselves at him, each talking a mile a minute in their relief to see him. He makes out "Grandpa, it's me, Hallie!" and "Mr. James, I know we haven't seen each other in years but I hope..." and "...after Mom and Annie, because Dad said we couldn't let them go again!"

Ten minutes later, they're in the kitchen, Nick and Hallie standing in front of the stove to dry off, as Mr. James heats a kettle of tea. He says very little as they explain again – slowly and coherently this time – why they've come and how they got here. Hallie attributes his silence to surprise, but she can't help noticing her grandfather's brow furrow, like he doesn't approve of their plan. She's confused. Grandpa was the one who lent her and Annie the money to make dinner reservations on the ship. First Chessy didn't want them to go, and now Grandpa isn't happy that they're here?

Finally, Mr. James pours a cup of camomile tea, looks hard at Nick over his teacup, and says slowly, "Nick... the last time you and Lizzie were together... you quite broke her heart."

His words are like a slap in the face, but Nick forces himself not to wince at them. They're no less than he deserves, and he has to act like a man if he wants to convince Mr. James he deserves a second chance with his daughter. He puts a hand on Hallie's shoulder, to stop her from leaping to his defense. "The last time Lizzie and I were together, sir," he answers, choosing his words carefully, "I made a lot of stupid mistakes. I'm just sorry it took me eleven years to realize that. Last time we were together... I let her go. That was stupid of me, and that's why I'm here now."

Mr. James nods, apparently satisfied with this answer, and puts down his teacup. "Come with me," he says, motioning for them to follow as he heads down the hall to study. "There's something I want to show you two." Once in his study, he picks up a large picture frame sitting on his desk and holds it out – not to Nick, but to Hallie. As he leans forward to look it, Hallie feels the same flutter of excitement that she did when she and Annie held up their two halves of the picture of their parents' wedding day – like a puzzle piece she's been missing her whole life is about to drop into place.

And that's just how it feels as she gazes at the photo of a pretty, smiling young woman with '50s-style dress and hair. Even with the old-fashioned sepia tones, Hallie can tell that the woman's hair is red, and she brings one hand to her shoulder to stroke her own hair. All her life, she's wondered where her red hair came from, since her dad has brown hair and she always knew from her half-torn photograph that her mom is blonde. But now she knows. There it is, her own red hair – the exact same shade – framing this young woman's face as she smiles up at Hallie.

"Hallie," her grandpa says, smiling, "this was your grandmother, dear. Her name was Anna. Your sister is named for her."

Hallie tears her eyes away from the photo long enough to look up at her dad with a question in her eyes that she doesn't have to ask. Nick gives his head a slight shake. "No," he tells her, "I never knew her. I always wished I had, though."

Mr. James sighs, and in it, they hear a grief that's still raw some twenty years later. "We lost her a long time ago," he says, turning the photo back to himself and gazing down at it. "Lizzie was just a teenager when it happened." He looks up at Nick then, and even though his eyes seem bright with tears, he smiles. "Nick... some men never get a second chance to be with the woman they love. I hope you won't forget that."

And even though Nick is suddenly misty-eyed too, he smiles back at him. "Sir... I mean, Mr. James... I mean, Charles... that's the best advice I've ever gotten."

**THE END  
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_I hope you enjoyed it! Thank you all for your sweet reviews!_**  
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